Most part-time college students in Florida don't graduate

In a Developmental English class at Broward Community College's… (Nicholas R. Von Staden,…)

September 28, 2011|By Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel

If you want to graduate from college, go full-time, a new study suggests.

Just 43 percent of part-time students in Florida received a bachelor's degree within eight years, compared to 69 percent of those going full-time. Even worse, fewer than 10 percent of part-time students in two-year degree and certificate programs graduate.

"Contrary to conventional thinking, more time and more choices often add up to less success," said Stan Jones, president of Complete College America, a New York-based non-profit group, which conducted the study of 33 states.

The report shows Florida's community colleges and less selective four-year universities have been more successful at attracting students than keeping them. Only a quarter of full-time community college students and less than 9 percent of part-time students receive an associate's degree within 4 years, the report shows. The results for certificate programs were similarly low.

"They lose interest after a while. Life gets in the way," said Angelia Millender, a vice president at Broward College.

She said advisers discourage students from enrolling in only one or two classes at a time, "but for some their lives won't allow them to take additional classes, and there's nothing we can do to make them."

Another problem is that most students come into school unprepared and have to take non-college remedial classes.

Samuel Torres, 35, dropped out of City College, a private school in Fort Lauderdale, a decade ago because of financial problems. After working a number of low-paying jobs, he decided to pursue an associate's degree at Broward College. But first he must take some non-credit remedial math and English courses.

"It is frustrating, but these are the procedures they have in order to succeed and move on," he said.

He said said many of his friends also started college but didn't finish.

"A lot of times it stems from problems at home, financial or some other sort of emergency happens," he said. "The problem seems to be greater than the need to stay in school."

Palm Beach State College started a "First Year Experience" where school officials work closely with freshmen to help them learn about all the resources available, from the library to tutoring to counseling, said college spokesman Grace Truman said.

"We really are now much more about retention than we are about recruitment," she said. "We really don't want people to come and leave without achieving what they came here for."

The low graduation rates have a negative economic impact as well, the report says. By 2020, 63 percent of jobs will require a career certificate or college degree, but just 35 percent of Florida adults have at least an associate's degree.

"Given changing demographics, our country will not have enough skilled Americans to compete unless many more students from all backgrounds and walks of life graduate," the report states.

The state has started efforts to identify former students who are near completion and bring them back to college to receive their credentials, said Judith Bilsky, Executive Vice Chancellor of the Florida College System. The state has joined a pledge by Complete College America to double the number of graduates by 2020.

The report looks only at community colleges and four-year public universities, not private colleges. But private for-profit colleges also have poor graduation rates, according to report last year by the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Just 22 percent of students receiving a bachelor's degree graduated within six years.

Complete College America received funding from five philanthropy organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Part-time students are not included in federal graduation rates, even though they make up about 40 percent of all college students, officials from the group said. They said any efforts to improve graduation rates should look at all students.

"We set out to tell the whole story, the story that college students today are living, not the story of a system that doesn't count nearly half the students it serves," said Jones. "What we discovered was both alarming and compelling because we can now confirm that we need to make dramatic policy changes to ensure these students complete their degrees. By doing so, we can secure strong economies for our states and country."